The Catholic Church in Democratic Republic of Congo has asked the UN Security Council to call on the country's election commission to publish data from the polling and counting stations set up for a December 30 presidential election.

Monsignor Marcel Utembi, president of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo or CENCO, said Friday that the commission's provisional announcement of opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi as the surprise winner didn't match the tally from the Catholic bishops group's monitoring of the vote.

Utembi told the Security Council in a video briefing from Kinshasa that publishing the election data would enable candidates to compare their numbers with the electoral commission's count.

He said: "This might dispel doubts among the population as to the outcome and may therefore set minds at rest."

Utembi said if there are challenges, CENCO will request that the Security Council ask key parties to "prioritize the path of truth and peace while awaiting the outcome."